Brian Letwin, who is head over heels in love with Saigon and co-founded Saigoneer.com, a website on Saigon and elsewhere in Vietnam, stressed that locals, particularly youths, should learn how to read critically and analytically to avoid falling victim to the newswires or websites that fabricate rumors or maliciously slander or libel others to attract views.

Letwin put the booming popularity of newswires and social networks mostly down                                                                                                                                  to the easy accessibility of smartphones, tablets and the surging number of Facebook and Twitter users in Vietnam compared to when he first arrived in the city three years ago.

Regarding the recent defamatory rumors which go viral on social networks, such as the “hu tieu” (rice noodle) which is served in broth made from rats, before the concerned agencies and the media look into the rumor and refuted it.

“Though stringent penalties on violators are a must, there’s a long way to go before the government can intervene effectively. As far as I know, the Vietnamese government has come up with several regulations regarding the use of the Internet. However, I think that these terms lack specificity and the penalties remain perfunctory,” Letwin said.

He noted that 40 states in the US currently apply laws to protect individuals and organizations who join the media, but few states mention the issues of social networks in their codes.

With complicated law codes and huge expenses from lawsuits, as soon as things begin to tense up, the parties involved usually try their best to work things out through negotiation to avoid going to court.

“The newswires’ ploy to attract views by posting fabricated, sensational stories will sooner or later take its toll on them. They can attract huge readership in the beginning, but they will soon be exposed, underestimated and boycotted by their very readers. There’ve been several such cases in the US,” Letwin stressed.

He also urged that local youths learn how to read critically and analytically and look at the matter in different angles and from various sources of information instead of reading passively and relying on merely what is presented.

“Websites devoted to protecting youths from problems arising from social networks should also be created. These websites should also help youths stay wise, steer clear from harmful sites and avoid undesired, serious effects such as depression, alienation and even suicide, which are caused by bad-meaning, heartless words or malicious jokes on such sites,” Letwin noted.

Letwin, who hails from New York, prefers to be called by his Vietnamese name, Nguyen Van Bun (Bun means rice noodle in Vietnamese). He’s infatuated with Saigon’s landscape, hectic lifestyle and amicable people and has married and settled down here for almost three years.

He met Alberto Prieto, a Spanish young man whose Vietnamese name is Ba Khia, and the two quickly became the best of friends. Before long, they came up with the idea of building a website to provide foreign tourists and expats living in Vietnam with loads of information on the country, especially their favorite place, Saigon. So their website www.Saigoneer.com was born.

Since debuting in April 2013, Saigoneer.com instantly gained a firm foothold among the expat circle in HCMC, and now enjoys a high number of pageviews. The guys hope that in the long term their website will also promote, create and sponsor entertainment events.